China's Solar Industry

China's Solar Industry

Suntech Power is the world’s largest maker of solar cells and panels. It reached this position through a combination of clever advances in manufacturing equipment with judicious use of cheap labor, a strategy apparent when Technology Review took a tour of the company’s factories this fall.

Above, a worker at Suntech’s manufacturing facility in Wuxi, China, monitors a machine that etches the surface of crystalline silicon wafers for use in solar cells. The machine uses a novel process developed by Suntech that helps solar cells absorb more light.